In Modern Singapore, Some Wax Nostalgic

By

Justin Bergman

Updated Nov. 21, 2013 11:00 p.m. ET

Walking into True Blue Cuisine restaurant in Singapore feels like stepping back in time to the early 20th century. The antique wooden cupboards are chockablock with Peranakan-style china and colorful beaded slippers. Tables overflow with bouquets of lilies and orchids. Painted paper lanterns hang from the ceiling, and portraits of chef-owner Benjamin Seck's Straits Chinese ancestors, gazing sternly at the camera, fill every last space on the walls.

Singapore Embraces Its Heritage

As the country rushes headfirst into the future, many young Singaporeans are looking to its past, placing more urgency on preserving its distinctive culture. Ying Yi Chua for the Wall Street Journal

"They got married very young back then," says our server Dorothy, motioning to a wedding photo of Mr. Seck's grandmother, who was 16 at the time. "These days, kids don't want to get married at all," she adds with a smile.

Singapore may be changing at warp speed these days, but not everyone is rushing headfirst into the future. As the country builds ever-higher skyscrapers, hyperefficient metro lines and heat-shielding underground shopping arcades, a remarkable thing has happened—many young Singaporeans are looking back to the country's past, placing more urgency on preserving its distinctive culture and heritage.

"As a nation, we've grown up with a lot of rapid changes in society," says Loh Lik Peng, a 41-year-old lawyer-turned-developer who has opened a string of boutique hotels in restored historic buildings. "I think people are now trying to go back to something they feel is a bit more authentic about Singapore."

Wherever you look, Singaporeans are waxing nostalgic about the good old days. Blogs like Yesterday.Sg, irememberSG and Remember Singapore have been started to chronicle Singapore's disappearing landmarks and other reminders of the past, such as the fading traditional coffee shops known as kopitiams, and the last street barber still giving haircuts under a tent on the once-busy back alley known as "Barber Street."

On television, a new drama called "Serangoon Road" is airing on HBO Asia, recounting the newly independent country's rough-and-tumble beginnings in the 1960s. And at the Singapore Biennale, which opened last month, several artists have incorporated nostalgic themes into their works, including two who drew inspiration from historic theaters: Director Royston Tan created a short dance film about the now-shuttered landmark Capitol Theatre and Lai Chee Kien reconstructed the facade of the demolished National Theatre of Singapore.

For many younger Singaporeans, the preservation of historic buildings has been a paramount concern due to the speed of development in recent years. Unlike other fast-changing Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Beijing, however, Singapore made architectural conservation a priority in the 1970s and '80s.

Back then, it was a way of "nation building," says Tan Huey Jiun, the director of conservation planning at Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority. Planners felt that historic architecture "would help give our city character, so it's not just any other cosmopolitan, new city," Ms. Tan says.

As a result, entire districts like Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam today remain virtually intact, lined with colorful shophouses from the early 1900s that have been meticulously restored. Ms. Tan notes that the key was to allow the owners to adapt the old buildings to suit new purposes—renovating the insides to accommodate businesses, restaurants or cafes—while maintaining the historical facades and original structures.

Mr. Loh's hotels exemplify how preservation and entrepreneurship are combining to breathe new life into old buildings.

At the New Majestic Hotel, built inside four conjoined shophouses from 1928, the lobby has a retro-cool vibe, with modern touches like the distressed paint on the ceiling mixing easily with the vintage furniture and old-fashioned bicycle tuk-tuk parked next to the door. A pop-up design store sits in the middle selling art books and traditional Singaporean biscuit tins.

ENLARGE

New Majestic Hotel

For his latest project, Mr. Loh transformed a traditional coffee shop in the newly gentrifying neighborhood of Tiong Bahru into a yakitori restaurant called Bincho, which opened this month. Hipsters have been flocking to Tiong Bahru in recent years due to the low rents and gorgeous Art Deco architecture—the 1930s public-housing estates, among the first to be built in Singapore, were designed in the Streamline Moderne style, with aerodynamic lines and rounded corners meant to evoke airplanes, ocean liners and automobiles.

The formerly quiet area is now bustling with coffee shops serving pork-cheek-and-gruyère sandwiches and boutiques selling lemongrass oil from Bhutan. But the past hasn't completely been forgotten. Seeking to build on the renewed interest in Tiong Bahru, the National Heritage Board recently launched a historic walking tour in the neighborhood, using longtime local residents and students as volunteer guides.

Mr. Loh also wanted to preserve some of the local character in his new yakitori venture, persuading the now-retired coffee-shop owners to stay on selling fishball mee pok (their signature noodle dish) during the day. "The business has been there since the 1950s, which is way older than me," he says. "I was like, Wow, I can't be responsible for you not being there anymore."

This sense of nostalgia can also be seen in the recent proliferation of young chefs launching restaurants serving traditional Peranakan food, the distinct Singaporean cuisine mixing Chinese and Malay flavors. Mr. Seck, a sixth-generation Peranakan who learned to cook from his grandmother, says he was motivated to open True Blue out of fear Peranakan cooking was a "dying art."

"In most families, the recipes are buried with the grandmothers and mothers," says Mr. Seck, 40, who cooks alongside his mother in the kitchen. "A lot of young people don't want to cook this food because of time constraints and work—it's not like chopping vegetables and garlic, like Chinese cuisine."

Malcolm Lee was also inspired by his grandmother's and mother's cooking, but the chef, who turned 29 this month, puts more of a modern twist on the classics at his four-month-old Candlenut restaurant. The aim is to appeal to young Singaporeans who equate dining out with imports like Spanish tapas.

‘We haven't really established a culture because we are so young as a country’

—Malcolm Lee, chef

His take on ayam buah keluak (chicken cooked in a tangy sauce made with the black nuts of the kepayang tree), for example, uses sous vide beef short ribs instead of chicken and has a slightly thicker sauce that resembles a curry. For him, innovation is necessary to prevent Peranakan cuisine from disappearing.

"We haven't really established a culture because we are so young" as a country, he says. "That's why young people always want to try new things…and they forget this old stuff because they think, 'My mom can cook it, why do I have to bother learning it?' "

Artists and designers are finding creative ways to use retro motifs, as well. One local design studio, with the nostalgic-sounding name When I Was Four, makes canvas tote bags and notebooks decorated with images from grade-school Mandarin grammar books. Another designer, Mike Tay, has created a line of wallpaper at his studio, Onlewo, featuring historic shophouses in neighborhoods such as Tiong Bahru and Little India and geometric designs made from the rice-four snacks called kueh found in bakeries all over the city.

Meanwhile, fashion designer Jo Soh revisited the public-housing estates of her youth—known as HDB flats for the Housing Development Board—with a new collection for her label, hansel, incorporating prints of 1960s and '70s HDB buildings and laundry hanging from bamboo poles. "I was trying to find a theme that was very Singaporean, and what is pretty unique to Singapore is our HDB flats," she says.

Vintage stores are another craze. At Books Actually, an independent bookstore in Tiong Bahru, owner Kenny Leck has carved out space in the back for antique bric-a-brac: decades-old glassware from a Singaporean beverage company (Yeo Hiap Seng: "The Good Drink"), old record albums and writing pads, and black-and-white wedding and school portraits.

ENLARGE

Books Actually owner Kenny Leck says his generation has more time for art and culture. The bookstore also sells antique collectibles.
Ying Yi Chua for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Leck, 35, says his generation is the first in Singapore to have the luxury to be nostalgic for a simpler time. For his grandparents and parents, the 1960s and '70s were a time of struggle. "Their troubles were really building up the country, putting food on the table. Now, my generation, you have time for art, culture, roots."

As the pace of development quickens, establishing a cultural identity is only going to become more important, says Mr. Loh, the developer. "You don't really know where you are heading as a nation without having some idea where you came from," he says. "That's particularly important for a country that's as young as Singapore."

The Lowdown: A Taste of History in Singapore

Getting There: There are numerous direct flights daily to Singapore from Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo and other major Asian cities. China Eastern, Air China and Singapore Airlines tend to have the best rates from mainland China, while budget carriers Tigerair and Jetstar offer the lowest fares from Hong Kong. Changi International Airport is about a 30-minute taxi ride to downtown Singapore and costs 25 to 35 Singapore dollars (US$20-$28). Singapore's metro is the easiest way to get around the city, although Comfort and SMRT taxis have smartphone apps that make ordering cars very convenient for a small surcharge.

Where to Stay: Singapore has plenty of hotels with charm to suit every budget. The grande dame is the Fullerton Hotel, a 400-room property in a neoclassical building that once housed the old General Post Office (rooms from S$410 a night; fullertonhotel.com). At the New Majestic Hotel, local artists and designers were commissioned to create artworks for the 30 rooms, ensuring each has a distinct look (from S$280 a night; newmajestichotel.com). On the budget end is the Kam Leng Hotel, which reopened last year in a restored heritage property in the up-and-coming Jalan Besar neighborhood (from S$116 a night; kamleng.com).

Exploring There: Chinatown, Little India, Kampong Glam and Joo Chiat are the best neighborhoods to see Singapore's colorful prewar shophouses. The National Heritage Board has set up heritage walking trails in a number of neighborhoods; log onto nhb.gov.sg for a list. The excellent Peranakan Museum(peranakanmuseum.org.sg) is a good place to get an overview of Peranakan culture; True Blue Cuisine (truebluecuisine.com) is located next door. In Kampong Glam, be sure to check out Haji Lane, a fashionable strip lined with boutiques, cafes and bars; and in Joo Chiat, take in the historic architecture on Koon Seng Road and then sample the ais bor, a traditional dessert of shaved ice coated in sugary syrup, at the retro-themed Sinpopo diner on Joo Chiat Road. In Tiong Bahru, stop at Books Actually (booksactually.com) to browse the vintage glassware and pick up When I Was Four's (wheniwasfour.com) nostalgic-themed tote bags, then stay for yakitori at the newly opened Bincho (facebook.com/binchohuabee).

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